Heavy Metal Parking Lot Subject of New Exhibit

The 17-minute documentary "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" remembers the hard-partying tailgaters before a 1986 Judas Priest show at the old Capital Centre -- and a head-banging time gone by. News4's Mark Segraves reports. (Published Tuesday, May 31, 2016)

It was a snapshot in time -- a time when t-shirt sleeves were ripped off, when wearing a zebra-print shirt and pants was pretty cool, when the hair was big, the metal was loud and the beer was cheap.

"Heavy Metal Parking Lot" is the practically no-budget, 17-minute documentary of a night spent with the partying crowd before a sold-out Judas Priest concert in 1986 at the old Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.

It was shot by two would-be filmmakers with a borrowed camera. But over the decades, it spread among music-loving circles, eventually becoming a favorite of bands including Nirvana.

"It’s a tribute to the Caps Center," said filmmaker Jeff Krulik, a Maryland grad who is now an independent documentarian. "It might not have been the greatest but it was our place, growing up here.

"I had a connection to it, a lot of people did, so it’s fun to pay tribute," Krulik said. "And of course music and rock and roll and concert-going is something everyone relates to, whether you’re a fan of Judas Priest or not."

In the movie, Steinbecher appears to believe that she is at a Metallica concert.

"I was so wasted," she remembers. "It cracks me up because I didn’t care where I was at that day -- I was having a blast. It kills me 'cause I look at it now, and I say, 'Oh God, what are people thinking?'

"But I had a blast, we're still married 30 years later and we were rockers. We're still banging our heads."

The Maryland exhibit includes the original "Parking Lot" tapes, a stub from the Priest concert and even a piece of the parking lot. If you want to party with Zebraman, click here for more information.